Pulsar
PSR J1943+2206
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 214 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 26.763 days orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Vulpecula |
| Period | 4.682 ms (214 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.8×10⁻²² s/s |
| Characteristic age | 423.0 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.9×10⁷ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.7×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 211.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 7,991 pc (26.1 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.47 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 26.763 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000033 |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 43m 43.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +22° 06′ 33″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 68° S. North of latitude 68° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in July, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 26 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 462 million years.